Motorola may face legal hassle over Motomusic name

news
Jan 15, 20072 mins

Music purchasing/streaming website has claimed the Motomusic name since 1986

Motorola may face legal trouble over its use of the term Motomusic, the name it uses to market digital music on its mobile phones, because it has been claimed by another company.

Motorola has been using the term for the past few years on a few Web sites in Asia, including ones aimed at China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Then last week, during the International Consumer Electronics Show, Motorola released a statement on January 8 titled “Motorola Introduces the Motomusic Experience,” saying Motomusic broadly refers to music handsets, accessories, content, and alliances.

But Moto Music, a company that runs MotoMusic.com, a seller of digital songs and streaming radio, also claims the name.

The operator of the Web site says he has owned trademark rights since 1986 on Moto Music, MotoMusic, and Moto Music Corp. “They’ve never asked permission to use my name, nor I am in any dispute…yet,” Paul Jova said about Motorola, in an e-mail.

Motorola spokeswoman Sharen Santoski said she would need to look into the matter before commenting and could not be reached to answer specifically on Jova’s e-mail.

The China Motomusic.com.cn Web site does not contain a launch date but notes a 2005 copyright date.

A Motorola news release from August contains the note “Motomusic refers to www.motomusic.com.cn, www.motomusic.com.hk, and www.motomusic.com.tw.”